January 10th, 2021 | Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
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Hello,

This week's edition will discuss misery, evolution and the challenges of modern life, and how to improve yourself right now. 

What is it that you should value?

And people say, "Well, being Happy". They don't mean that. If you decompose what people mean when they say they want to be happy, what it turns out people mean is they don't want to be miserable. They're way more concerned with avoiding suffering than they are with pursuing enthusiastic, positive emotion. The statement, "I want to be Happy", is not an accurate reflection of what it is that you want.

"You should take care of, help, and be good to yourself the same way you would take care of, help, and be good to someone you loved and valued." (Share this on Twitter)

"It doesn’t help to shy away from difficult issues because you’re stuck with them. They’re not going away. The best you can do is something worthwhile in the face of them." (Share this on Twitter)​

"Confront your shadow." (Share this on Twitter)

Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life | The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast - S4E73

Podcasters and evolutionary biology power-couple Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying  join me to discuss a variety of topics related to their new book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century. We explore topics like niche-switching, what Darwin got wrong, Twitter, sources for modern values, hyper-novelty, the aftermath of progress, parenthood, and sexual selection – just to name a few.

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson:

"I'm trying to update our understanding of stories rather than the stories themselves."

Heather Heying:

"The amazing rate of change we’ve created is itself deranging us and making it very difficult to understand and remember how to be human."

Bret Weinstein:

"Children will destroy your life and replace it with a better one."

How to Improve Yourself Right Now | Jordan B. Peterson
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Dr. Peterson:

"The first question should be: Why should you even bother improving yourself? And I think the answer to that is something like, so you don't suffer any more stupidly than you have to. And maybe so others don't have to either. It's something like that.

There is a real adjunction at the bottom of it. It's not some casual self-help doctrine; it's that if you don't organize yourself properly, you'll pay for it. And in a big way. And so will the people around you. And you could say, "well, I don't care about that." But that's not true. You actually do care about that. Because if you're in pain, you will care about it. You rarely find someone who is in excruciating pain who would ever say, "well, it would be no better if I was out of this!"